Crowne wonders: Was mediation proposal a ‘game’?

UNITED TT Football Association (TTFA) lawyer Dr Emir Crowne says a media release issued by FIFA, on Tuesday, is “misleading on several fronts.” He is now wondering if the world-governing body for football “ever had the intention” of mediating the ongoing dispute or if it was “all merely a game.”

On Monday, Crowne and TTFA technical committee chairman Keith Look Loy confirmed to Newsday that FIFA agreed on mediation to resolve the matter regarding its decision to appoint a normalisation committee on March 17 to run TT football, replacing the TTFA executive (president William Wallace and vice-presidents Clynt Taylor, Susan Joseph-Warrick and Joseph Sam Phillip).

But on Tuesday, FIFA sent a media release saying the mediation will “not go ahead now in any event, owing to the failure of the lawyers of United TTFA to keep the matter confidential, in line with their professional and ethical obligations.”

It added, “For the sake of completeness, it should be noted that the mediation FIFA previously agreed to with United TTFA would never have dealt with the legality of the appointment of the normalisation committee and would only have covered some costs related issues.

“For the avoidance of doubt, FIFA only recognises the authority and jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in these matters. Any dispute regarding the appointment of a normalisation committee falls squarely within the jurisdiction of the CAS, and CAS alone.”

Crowne is representing the former TTFA executive along with Matthew Gayle, Jason Jones and Crystal Paul.

On May 18, the former TTFA executive took the matter to the TT High Court, instead of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). They felt they would not get a fair hearing at the Switzerland-based CAS.

FIFA challenged this, and the High Court set a date of July 29 to decide on the matter.

Speaking with Newsday on Friday morning, Crowne said, “I feel compelled to respond to it. First, FIFA's statement that it ‘will never’ accept the jurisdiction of the TT courts is striking, particularly since the issue of jurisdiction is - in fact - being argued later this month."

He said FIFA's statement that mediation “would only have covered some costs related issues” is false.

“The TTFA never agreed to any such narrowed scope. In fact, one wonders what ‘costs related issues’ FIFA is even speaking about? No costs have arisen in the local proceedings to date, so how could the TTFA even agree to such a narrow scope?”

He said no other details were given to media other than the fact that mediation was agreed upon.

“Surely FIFA cannot take the position that merely confirming the fact of mediation is a breach of confidence?”

He also commented on an article by an online blog that, he said, “has laid the blame solely at his feet."

Crowne said, "The blogger undoubtedly has his own agenda. But the blog post itself, I must say, is malicious and irresponsible. The blogger appears more interested in sensationalism, than any semblance of fair and balanced writing, which is unfortunate."

He said the next step is the hearing of the jurisdiction at the end of the month.